People often find themselves at large gatherings such as at sporting events, at political events, at concerts, at airports, at conventions, at national parks, and so on. In most of these instances, individuals may have friends, family, colleagues, co-workers, or other acquaintances that are also in the large gathering. They may be unaware of those others who are also at the gathering, and identifying those others who are also at the gathering may be difficult and/or inconvenient. Furthermore, due to the size of the event or location, those individuals may not cross paths and may not have an opportunity to congregate while there.
Mobile communications devices such as cellular phones, PDAs, and the like have become a ubiquitous part of daily life, and many people carry them to such large gatherings. The mobile communications device can thereby assist individuals at a large gathering in finding those who are known to be there or those who could possibly be there by allowing one individual to place a call to the others of interest.
While the mobile communications device can assist, this manner of contacting the other potential attendees is an inefficient and burdensome process. The caller must be able to think of those that might be in attendance in order to call them, or must utilize a list of people that may or may not coincide with the gathering but likely was formed for another purpose entirely. Additionally, the caller must take the time to call or message each one, which may require significant time and effort and may interfere with the caller's enjoyment of the large gathering. Furthermore, those being called must actually answer the call in order to learn of the caller being in attendance and wishing to congregate. Perhaps the greatest drawback is that those who are not in attendance, and of course have no interest in congregating at the large gathering because they are not present there, may get a call or message from the caller solely for the purpose of asking them to find the caller at the event. If they are not at the event, and so cannot possibly find the caller there, then they have been bothered for no reason.